BI Business Analysts Needed

Dataspace is looking for 2 business intelligence analysts for positions at clients in New York State.  These are true analyst, not developer-level, roles.  So, while a knowledge of BI technologies is necessary, the role will not entail actual BI development.

We will consider applicants for either contract or permanent employment.

• BI Analyst: 2 needed -need analysts with understanding of SQL/Cognos/SAS but they need to understand the tools conceptually, don’t need to be hands-on programmers
• This is truly a higher-level analyst role, not a developer role. Consultants will be responsible for tasks such as:

Gathering requirements from end users
Understanding the data flows between systems
Designing business processes & reworking data flows

• Required qualifications include:

Perfect verbal ability
Strong writing skills
Business analysis / user interview skills
Technical analysis & design skills

• Desired qualifications include:

Ideally understand healthcare and financial data
Knowledge of healthcare / health insurance industry
Knowledge of financial systems is a plus

• Duration: 6 months + likely extensions
• CONTRACTOR CANDIDATES MUST BE DIRECT EMPLOYEES OF THE CONTRACTING FIRM – NO SUBCONTRACTS

Detailed Role Description: Business Analyst Role Description

Quiz January, 2012 – The Dreaded Time Zone Question

WARNING: This month’s quiz is harder than it seems at first!  Are you up to it?

We recently worked with a client that does business all around the world. They capture millions of transactions which they then bring into a dimensional data warehouse for analysis.

The problem is that this company, and their customers, need to analyze their data indexed to any time zone. So, for example, if a transaction takes place in Mumbai at 0200, it might be analyzed in the Mumbai time zone as 0200 or the New York time zone as 1530 or as any other time zone in the world.

Now the question; assuming a standard relational database, what is the best way to model this data to provide correct time and date results as well as adequate query response time?

HINT: In formulating your answer, consider the impact of date, not just time. 

 

Consulting Sales Position

CAN YOU SELL AND RECRUIT? Do you have the skills, experience and discipline to take a great company and get it the sales exposure it deserves?  Can you also apply that background to helping us find and snag the best consulting talent?

Founded in 1994 by one of the leading experts in the field of business intelligence and executive reporting systems, Dataspace has developed a reputation as a leader in helping organizations capitalize on the data they gather every day. Our clients represent some of the most recognizable brands in the world and include top automobile manufacturers, hospitals, insurance companies, distributors, and other industries.

This position represents an opportunity to work in one of the hottest areas of information technology for a company with a long track record of success. The candidate we’re looking for will have the following:

• Experience in B to B sales
• Extremely strong work ethic
• Goal focus
• Structured approach to selling

Interested? Send your resume and cover letter to careers@dataspace.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Quiz – July 2011: Hunh?

 

Superman Makes BI Actionable by Asking, “Who Should I hit?”

When Superman goes into action, does he usually know only that truth, justice and the American way are under attack OR does he know that truth, justice and the American way are under attack AND who the bad guys are?  I think you’ll agree that he generally knows both that there’s a problem and who to go after.  For, you see, Superman is working with actionable business intelligence.  (BTW, I’ll have to check our records but I believe that Dataspace was the developer of his BI system )

 

Actionable has been a hot term for a while now.  Everyone wants their BI to be actionable BUT, how many folks actually step back and try to understand what ‘actionable’ means?

To me, actionable means that BI shouldn’t just deliver information but should deliver information that drives toward a reactive or proactive plan of attack.  For example, which of the following is more useful:

Here is a list of our YTD sales by salesperson

OR

Here is a list of our YTD sales by salesperson compared to their YTD sales quotas?

The first one gives you information.  The second one gives you information you can act on – you know where your problems are and you know who to call.

It’s important to note that actionable data is different at the field level than at the executive level.  Field level managers are focused on addressing immediate issues; answering the question, “Where are my problems today?”  For example:

• In a distribution facility: What shipments are late?
• In a sales organization: Which salespeople are selling below their targets?
• In a hospital: What maintenance must be performed in order for us to remain compliant with relevant laws?

 

On the other hand, rather than solving a problem with today’s details, executives focus more on managing their subordinate managers.  An executive might ask a set of questions like:

• What is the general trend in our sales, or distribution, or maintenance performance?
• How does that trend compare to the goals I’ve set for the period?
• Is the trend headed in the right direction?
• Who’s the manager who’s responsible for that part of our business?

Even though executive-level and field-level managers have different ways of viewing data, if you capture enough detail, the same data can serve both audiences.  Ralph Kimball, father of the star schema, suggested that we capture a lot of detail because we can always summarize up to the executive level.  He also knew that if we store only aggregate data, we’ve lost the detail; we can’t get back down to the field level.

The key to success here is to ask: what does my user do with this report once he has it?  Does he take some action?  If so, are we directing him toward that action or just giving him information with no idea of what to do with it?  (BTW, if he doesn’t take some action, then why are we spending money to give him reports?)

So, to be the Superman of BI requirements, don’t look just at what data you can produce but work with your users to understand their business processes and how the reports you deliver can facilitate them.  Remember, you’re not delivering data, you are fighting to support truth, justice and the _______ (your nationality here) way.

Client-facing Project Lead / DW Architect

OVERVIEW:	Are you an undeniably strong BI & DW expert who can play a senior-level role as we expand our professional consulting business?  Do you want to build a BI / DW career in an environment with similarly-focused professionals?  Are you excited by the prospect of letting your true value drive your compensation?
RESPONSI-BILITIES:	Design & implement data warehouse & business intelligence systems Manage project teams Interface with clients Contribute to Dataspace sales and marketing efforts Develop skills in new technologies
SUCCESS CRITERIA:	Satisfied clients Successful completion of projects on budget & schedule Recurring work Account growth Flexibility and team orientation
LOCATION:	Ann Arbor, MI base preferred but not required Possible  travel 4 – 5 days / week on billable assignments
START DATE:	1 July 2011
REQUIRED SKILLS:	Data modeling (normalized & denormalized) DW Architecture design Implementation of BI & DW tools Workplan development and management Client interface skills
REQUIRED EXPERIENCE:	DW architecture design and development Overall design Requirements gathering Report design Src – tgt mapping Data model development (normalized & denormalized) Use of at least one BI tool Use of at least one ETL tool Project team management
OTHER REQUIRE-MENTS:	Bachelor’s degree
DESIRED SKILLS:	QlikView development
DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE:	Consulting experience
DESIRABLE CERTIFICATIONS:	CBIP BI and / or ETL tool certifications PMP
BACKGROUND INFORMATION	Dataspace serves customers in both strategic BI consulting and BI project staffing .  We have identified a number of opportunities to expand the consulting side of our practice and are looking for an accomplished, energetic consultant to help us manage and deliver on these opportunities.
APPLICATIONS	To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, immigration status, and contact information to: recruiting@dataspace.com.

Recruiting: Captivate 5 Developer

# OPEN POSITIONS	1
RESPONSI-BILITIES:	Develop 6 -10 modules of computer-based-training materials regarding  the use of legal department case matter management software
SUCCESS CRITERIA:	Deliverables completed and tested on time (5 May 2011) Deliverables function properly and meet or exceed client expectations
LOCATION:	Detroit, MI metropolitan region
START DATE:	Approx 21 March 2011
DURATION:	Thru 7 May 2011
TECHNOLOGIES:	Captivate (version 5)
REQUIRED SKILLS:	Captivate development Ability to rapidly understand the software for which training is being developed Best practices in Captivate Development Exceptional grammar and spelling Freedom from hard-coded references so code is portable to various server locations Optimized for delivery over the web
REQUIRED EXPERIENCE:	Development of computer based training
REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS:
DESIRED SKILLS:	Understanding of TeamConnect or similar case matter software Understanding of the computing needs of Legal professionals
DESIRED EXPERIENCE:	Exposure to a corporate legal department
DESIRED CERTIFICATIONS:
OTHER REQUIREMENTS:	Ability to work independently and logically solve issues that arise Ability to develop course outlines Extremely strong English communication skills
RECRUITING TARGET DATES:	Resumes Received: 10 March 2011 Tech Interview: 14 March 2011 Dataspace Selection: 15 March 2011 Client Interview: NA Client Decision: NA Start Date: 21 March 2011
OTHER INFORMATION	CLIENT INFO: Legal department of a major automobile manufacturer. PROJECT INFO: This client uses a case matter management software package called TeamConnect.  Because their work force is spread around the globe, they need the ability to provide standard training to this work force via the web.  The CBT developed in this assignment will be used to provide this training to that global work force.
APPLICATIONS	To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, immigration status, contact information and hourly rate to: recruiting@dataspace.com.

Quiz – January 2011: Name the BI Vendor or Candy Company

 

 

 

 

Is It Time to Rethink the Concept of the Data Warehouse?

Infinite MIPS, Or How Your Hardware Vendor Let you Down

The Concept of Data Warehousing is Fundamentally Flawed

 

 

Ever step back, think about what you’re doing and then ask yourself, “Why?”  Ever ask it about the concept of data warehousing?  Let’s grow up and face a fact here – while it may be necessary, the concept of data warehousing is flawed.

Think about it.  We already have all the tasty data we need in our operational systems.  So, let’s chow down.  Hey, wait a minute… Y’know what would be great fun? Let’s design a completely new database called a data warehouse.  Then, let’s write programs to bring all of that data into our warehouse.  Along the way, let’s integrate it all so we get a business-view of it, rather than a source-specific view.  Hey, let’s also make sure it’s clean.  And, let’s make sure we’ve built all the infrastructure necessary to schedule jobs, trap errors, verify totals, …  Oh, and let’s ask our managers and shareholders to pay for all of this.

OK, is it just me or, when you step back, does this sound insane?

 

What Is the “Right Solution”?

So, what’s better?  Well, in a really good world, all your data and systems would be integrated from the start AND you’d be able to report directly from them.

In a perfect world you wouldn’t have to integrate the data from multiple systems, you would have only one system and it would support all of your operational and informational (i.e. reporting and analysis) needs.  So, what, or who, is keeping us from this perfect world?

 

Who’s The Villain?

(I’m sure that Dataspace employees and alumni know where I’m heading here)  Who’s letting us down?  Who’s making us spend all that extra money and do all that extra work just so we can actually use the data we capture?

Hardware vendors… J’accuse!

Hardware vendors?  Why?  Because they haven’t figured out how to master the laws of physics to give us infinite MIPS (there it is, Dataspace folks) – infinite computing power.

Think about it; if we had infinite computing power we’d put all of our data into a single, enormous integrated, normalized database.  That database would support both our operational and informational needs.  It would be complex but it could be made to look simple by layering views on top of it.  It would keep all the history we could ever want because, well, why not?  Best of all, response time to any query, no matter how complex, would be instantaneous.  Why?  Because we’d have infinite computing power.

So, in the end, data warehousing is really just a way to make up for the fact that hardware (and maybe communication) vendors, with as many PhDs as they have, just haven’t done that one little thing we need them to do – create a computer with infinite MIPS.  (C’mon guys, get your act together!)

 

Is Data Warehousing the Only Solution?

Given the fact that hardware providers are smart yet, clearly, clueless, we’ve come up with a ‘dirty’ solution to help us get at our data – we build a data warehouse.  We, in essence, do a lot of pre-processing on data because we don’t have the horsepower to do it when queries are issued.  Preprocessing like integrating, aggregating, and putting into user-friendly formats.

But, is this the only way to do the job?  Perhaps, given our lack of infinite MIPS, it is.  Still, the idea of a single, enterprise-wide database is enticing.  And, actually, there is a partial solution that, while not eliminating the need for informational data stores (i.e. data warehouses and data marts), minimizes the effort required to build them.  That partial solution is integrating operational systems or, in its more common form, master data management.

Integrating data before, or as, you build, a data warehouse has a number of advantages:

• It makes building the warehouse easier and cheaper.
• It ensures that, operationally, the whole organization is seeing the same picture (unlike one client who called us after different data definitions led to a multi-million dollar ordering mistake).
• It creates a logical view of the single database concept, bringing you closer to that true picture of one, integrated database underlying your entire company.
• It opens you up to reporting out of a new generation of BI tools, ones that integrate data but don’t require traditional data warehouses yet don’t stress your operational systems each time a query is run.  (more on this in a later posting)

 

Where Does This Leave Us?

So, data warehouses and data marts do accomplish a lot and, largely, are still necessary.  But, integrating data between your operational systems will save you headaches, lower your cost of warehousing and, in some cases, maybe even eliminate the need for a data warehouse.

Where to start?  Well, let’s leave that for a later post, too.

Any comments?  I’d love to see them.  Please submit them below.

– Ben

QlikView Developer – Contract

# OPEN POSITIONS	1
RESPONSIBILITIES:	Connect QlikView to multiple data sources including Web Services, MS SQL Server and MS Excel Develop four (or more) QlikView analyses Test  analyses in a web environment
SUCCESS CRITERIA:	Reports match or exceed specifications Reports completed on time
LOCATION:	New York City although remote work is acceptable with occasional trips to New York
START DATE:	17 January 2011
DURATION:	3 Weeks
TECHNOLOGIES:	QlikView SQL Server Web Services Excel
REQUIRED SKILLS:	QlikView screen development QlikView load script development from the following sources: Web services, Excel, SQL Server
REQUIRED EXPERIENCE:	Multiple, production QlikView  implementations
REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS:
DESIRED SKILLS:
DESIRED EXPERIENCE:
DESIRED CERTIFICATIONS:	QlikView
OTHER REQUIREMENTS:	Ability to quickly adapt to a complex environment Ability to work without constant supervision
RECRUITING TARGET DATES:	Resumes Received: 11 JAN 2011 Tech Interview: 11 – 13 JAN 2011 Dataspace Selection: 14 JAN 2011 Client Interview: N/A Client Decision: N/A Start Date: 17 JAN 2011
OTHER INFORMATION	CLIENT INFO: The facilities department of one of the nation’s most respected hospitals. PROJECT INFO: One of the first implementations of QlikView at this organization.  We will be creating reports for senior management to assess their performance on measures intended to avoid fines from regulatory agencies.  Compliance with these measures also has a direct effect on the safety of individuals at the hospital.
APPLICATIONS	To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, immigration status, contact information and hourly rate to: recruiting@dataspace.com.

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